It seems about the last thing you'd expect the nation's youth radio network to do – come over all nostalgic, then ask listeners to avoid mention of any new music.

Triple J's music guru Richard Kingsmill today announced the station will hold a countdown of the best songs of the past two decades on the weekend of June 8-9, to celebrate 20 years of Hottest 100 countdowns.

To be eligible for inclusion, a song must have been released between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 2012. That's right: no songs from 2013 will be allowed.

The now-defunct Powderfinger are considered favourites for the Hottest 100 greatest hits.

Some will celebrate the fact Psy's latest, Gentleman can't be counted.

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While voting will again take place through the Triple J website (starting next Tuesday, May 14), the station confirmed that the option to automatically share your list via social media will be dropped.

This year's countdown was spoiled when an accurate estimation of results was released, the Warmest 100, before the countdown after a marketing student tracked voting on Facebook and Twitter. The Warmest 100 predicted 17 of the top 20 songs, although not necessarily in the correct order. But it did nail the top three.

Last song to get a look in ... Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Lewis.

To be fair, Triple J does have a nostalgic streak, holding several all-time Hottest 100s in the past. In fact it began as a best-ever poll, in 1989, before the list of eligible songs was restricted to the previous calendar year in 1993 – the first Hottest 100, which was topped by Denis Leary's Asshole.

The station's last all-time countdown was held in 2009, which was topped by Nirvana's timeless Smells Like Teen Spirit. But that track won't feature this time because it was released in 1991, similarly the number two, Rage Against the Machine's brilliant 1992 teen angst anthem Killing In The Name won't make it either, opening the way for the number three, Jeff Buckley's haunting version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, which despite being recorded in 1994 was only released as a single in 2007.

This morning Kingsmill said he'd love to see another Buckley song, Last Goodbye, make the 20-year countdown.

Third place last time but eyeing top spot ... Jeff Buckley

So who and what might make number one? On representation among previous number ones, Bernard Fanning is favourite: he has won more than anyone else, with two Powderfinger songs (These Days, My Happiness, from 1999 and 2000) and his solo single (Wish You Well, 2005). If not Fanning, another Australian artist surely has a strong chance – half of all Hottest 100 winners have been homegrown.

It's hard to imagine some of the earlier winners – like Leary's comedy single (novelty tracks have waned in appeal over the years) or the Cranberries' grunge-lite Zombie (1994) – resonating with today's listeners.

Some songs however date better, such as Oasis's earworm Wonderwall, which went on to become Generation X's Stairway to Heaven for its mix of a classic sound and nonsensical lyrics (did anyone ever work out what a "Wonderwall" actually was?).

Ultimate hits: Hottest 100 of the past 20 years.

Our predictions? Overall, top 10 songs from recent years will more than likely upend many of the pre-2000 hits, but as for the main prize? Much as we'd love to see Augie March's sublime One Crowded Hour do well (surely one of the best Australian songs ever written), artists who still have a big profile today will be there or thereabouts: so Mumford and Sons, Gotye, the Stone siblings and Mr Fanning (who must be rubbing his hands at the timing of this, with a new album out and a tour beginning in July).

And would any conversation about popular songs be complete without mention of Gangnam Style? Triple J didn't play it in its entirety, but will that stop punters voting for it?

Poll: Which of the previous Hottest 100 number ones should top the 20 year countdown?